"Rage Against The Machine And Thousands of Protesters Rock the DNC ... Peacefully"
[excerpts] After a more than two-mile march across Denver that at one point included a police-estimated 4,500-6,000 people, a crowd of several thousand anxiously awaited word from the campaign of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama ...
With more than 700 police in full riot gear looking on, the protesters defiantly refused to enter the designated 50,000-square-foot protest zone, dubbed the "Freedom Cage," saying that as veterans, they deserved more from their country ...
Tent State University leader Adam Jung vowed from the stage of the Coliseum that the marchers would make the Democrats "sh-- their pants" ...
Before taking off, Rage played an hour's worth of incendiary, bomb-throwing anthems from their catalog, and lead singer De la Rocha egged on the near-capacity crowd at the Denver Coliseum into a froth ...
De la Rocha kept the polemics to a minimum during the show but gave a stern warning that "revolutionary change begins with a crime of betrayal," saying that any politician who continues to support the United States' current policies "is in harm's way." ...
[The veterans, the performers, and much of the audience then marched] to the Pepsi Center.
An hour before the marchers arrived, hundreds of police began massing and forming long, foreboding lines, in order to funnel the march toward the protest zone and away from the delegate entrance to the Pepsi Center. Checking their mace canisters, dropping their face shields, standing at attention with their five-foot batons at the ready and strapping on leg armor, the squadrons of storm trooper-like officers marched into the fray with orders to be prepared for potential violent action.
Nearly three hours into the protest, frustration began to ripple through the crowd as it stalled out just outside the desolate Freedom Cage, with some marchers sitting down to play dice, start impromptu dance circles, smoke marijuana and, eventually, wander away until police estimated that just a few thousand remained.
Then, a buzz rippled through the mass as the word was passed on from the front that something was happening. "We are entering negotiations with Senator Obama," one of the march's Iraq-vet leaders announced. "The Democratic Party is scared sh--less of us right now!"
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1593671/20080827/rage_against_the_machi...
Article on MTV.com by Gil Kaufman
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Comments
great
August 27, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 10 weeks ago
Comment id: 599
so we're reaching an egalitarian society through "negotiations" with politicians that we already know have and will fuck us over, sitting in drum circles and smoking weed, and bending over to the will of the police state?
well, I guess this is SOME sort of a success.
funny you left out the final paragraph on mtv.com
August 27, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 10 weeks ago
Comment id: 600
A spokesperson for IVAW could not be reached for comment on the negotiations at press time, but judging by the roar of approval from inside the convention center for President Clinton's speech a short time later — which likely could not be heard by the far-flung protesters — fear was likely not the on the minds of party supporters as they finally got the healing message between the Clinton and Obama camps they'd been looking for all week.
riot
August 28, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 10 weeks ago
Comment id: 609
Fucking hell! That was our moment! That was the time for the big riot that we all wanted! And we just let it slip through our hands like that. So sad. What a fiasco.
This ideology of non-violence is killing us.
token gesture
August 28, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 10 weeks ago
Comment id: 614
i don't understand why protesters were content with a demand for a veteran's letter to be heard. it's clear that the police accepted the veteran's demands to quell the situation on the streets. it was a token gesture which gave police the upper-hand in public relations, so that they could say, 'ok, you got your demand, now go home'.
watching the national networks at home, there was NO mention of the protests or the veteran's letter. there was a brief mention on fox news of 'the developing story' of protests, but that story never developed. there is a sad irony in the fact that the only network to even mention protesters (to my knowledge) was fox, the network known for its virulent right-wing bias. CNN and msnbc, which had around the clock live coverage, didn't touch it.
uuhhhh..
August 30, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 9 weeks ago
Comment id: 684
so maybe, strategically speaking, the decision NOT to escalate the moment was a good one...but championing this situation as a success or a highlight is damn embarassing.
They are awesome... i wish i
October 25, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 1 week ago
Comment id: 1966
They are awesome... i wish i could hear them... Best band!
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